Sabor De Highlandtown
A project by Dr. Fouts and their UMBC students in partnership with the Southeast CDC and the people who live and work in the Highlandtown neighborhood of East Baltimore.
Info/Información
(Español abajo) A walk down Highlandtown’s Eastern and Highland Avenues reveals a range of immigrant-owned businesses. Smells emanate from rotisseries filled with roasted chickens and menus boast of specialties like Bún chả, mariscadas, menudos, baleadas, kabsa, and mapo tofu, along with more legible classics like tacos, burritos, General Tsao’s chicken, kebab, pho, and birrias available, too. What can the stories behind these foods tell us about how neighborhoods change? A collaboration between UMBC American Studies students, Southeast CDC, and Highlandtown restaurateurs attempts to tell a part of this history by featuring the stories and histories that make up “Sabor de Highlandtown.”
Un paseo por Eastern y Highland Avenue de Highlandtown revela una variedad de negocios propiedad de inmigrantes. Los olores emanan de los asadores llenos de pollos asados y los menús cuentan con especialidades como Bún chả, mariscadas, menudos, baleadas, kabsa y mapo tofu, junto con clásicos más legibles como tacos, burritos, pollo del General Tsao, kebab, pho y birrias. ¿Qué nos pueden decir las historias detrás de estos alimentos sobre cómo cambian los vecindarios? Una colaboración entre los estudiantes de Estudios Americanos de la UMBC, Southeast CDC, y los restauradores de Highlandtown intenta contar una parte de esta historia presentando los relatos e historias que conforman “Sabor de Highlandtown”.
Including/Incluso a: Pedro Silva of Tex-Mex, Jose Vargas of Vargas Bakery, Juan Nuñez and Franchesca Nuñez of Franchesca’s Empanadas, Carlos Nufio and Carla Licona of Los Primos Food taco trailer, and Hiralda De La Cruz of Puerto Jarocho, Su Zhang, Oriental Wok, Jassi Singh, Filippo’s, Carlos Cruz, Carlos O’Charlies, Ascar Mozeb, Queen of Sheeba, Maria Alvarado, Diner Latino
Produced by/Producido por: Johanna Barrantes, Amanda Smit, Andy Dahl, Sarah Fouts, Kristin Kelly, jes godinez, David Fitzgerald, Jake Mooney, Larissa Kuonen, Martha Berkheimer, Kyle Casamento, Andrea Quispe, Iñaki Zárate, Marco Di Pietro, Karla Press-Porter, Taylor Phelps, Gigi Fredrickson, Hailey Davio
Supported by/Apoyado por: UMBC Public Humanities, UMBC American Studies, Maryland Traditions, UMBC CIRCA, the Southeast CDC, AMST403/682 Food Ethnography in America courses.
Photographs courtesy of Southeast CDC.
Aún más sabor – “El Camino del Pan”
El Camino del Pan a Baltimore chronicles the life of José Vargas, owner of a bakery and taqueria located in Highlandtown, a neighborhood in East Baltimore. Click here for full film.
For more on the project check out Dr. Fouts guest post Homegrown Foodways Film Premiere: El Camino del Pan a Baltimore (November 7, 2023) on the Library of Congress Folklife Today blog.
This is a guest post by Professor Sarah Fouts, American Studies, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, sharing the online premiere of El Camino del Pan a Baltimore. The film is the first in this year’s Homegrown Foodways Film Series: Baltimore and New Orleans, a collaboration with Dr. Fouts, Andy Dahl of Nutria Productions, and documentarian Fernando López.